A Bridgerton ball held in the US has been compared to Glasgow’s disastrous Willy Wonka Experience after the event failed to live up to expectations.
Fans of the hit Netflix show turned up expecting a night of old style opulence in Michigan, Detroit.
Guests were promised live music, elegant backdrops and an immersion into the world of Bridgerton.
Frustrations had already been expressed when the event was rescheduled from August to Sunday after the original venue cancelled their contract with organisers due to safety concerns.
Those who ended up attending the event at the city’s Harmonie Club at the weekend are calling it a “royal disaster”.
The event was originally planned to host 3,000 guests, with tickets ranging between $150 and $1,000.
Unable to get a refund, many still attended the rescheduled event even if they were reluctant to do so.
“We didn’t actually get an email saying the event was cancelled, so we actually showed up all dressed up and everything,” Seana Schade, who attended the ball, told CBS.
Schade said she only stayed for about an hour after seeing the reality of the event.
“Just because it was too hot and we obviously weren’t going to be getting any food or drinks,” she said.
Another attendee posted her immediate reaction to TikTok after the “ball” turned out to be a “bust”.
“Are we at the club or are we at a ball?” asked Nita Morton in her TikTok post.
Guests had been promised live music, elegant backdrops and an immersion into the world of “Bridgerton“.
“This was the only person playing live music,” Morton said while showing a video of a single violinist. “There were three floors — three floors.
“I saw her maybe like twice throughout this whole time.
“Doesn’t this look like something your cousin had at her baby shower that they ran real quick to Family Dollar to get? Exactly.
“The caterers, look what they have on. And not to mention, these aren’t even the caterers. I don’t know where the caterers are.”
Just like the characters in the popular Netflix show, guests arrived at the ball in elegant Regency era attire and sparkling gowns, hoping to enjoy a night of revelry and enchantment.
Amanda Sue Mathis told Good Morning America that the event “was anything but”.
“It was supposed to be a completely immersive experience and make it like we were stepping into the world of ‘Bridgerton,'” she said. “And when we got there, we were completely devastated.”
Mathis said she and her mom Cindy Tate shelled out over $100 per ticket for the event, but instead of glitz and glamour, they encountered only chaos.
“I noticed in the middle of the dance floor, there was a pole meant for an exotic dancer,” she added.
Tink, a circus performer hired for the evening, told ABC Detroit’s WXYZ-TV channel she was contacted by the organiser, a company by the name Uncle & Me LLC, just three hours before the event.
The performer said she offered the organiser a variety of performance options and they chose pole dancing.
“I just feel very bad for all the patrons who showed up to the event,” she said. “Just because my goal as a performer is, you know, to bring happiness.”
Adding to her disappointment, Morton said she spent an additional $600 on hair, makeup and her outfit.
“People spent hundreds of dollars, not just on their tickets, but on upkeep and making sure they look presentable for this ball themselves,” Morton said.
She said her requests for a refund are going unanswered as the promoters, Uncle N Me LLC, are staying true to their strict no-refund policy. She says she probably could have gotten into the venue without paying for one.
“They didn’t check my ticket,” she said. “They were not checking tickets. They allowed everyone to go in. I would rather keep all my money and throw it myself.
Morton said she estimated roughly half of the original 3,000 guests showed up, but many left quickly after realizing what they were really walking into.
In February, families who attended Glasgow’s Willy Wonka Experience were left bitterly disappointed after being promised they would enter “a place where chocolate dreams become reality”.
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Hundreds of parents were persuaded to pay up to £35 a ticket for an event which promised “surprises at every turn”.
Visitors who hoped to relive the classic book and movies – including the 1971 original starring Gene Wilder – were left bitterly disappointed.
Eager families who turned up at an industrial area in Whiteinch described it as “little more than an abandoned, empty warehouse”.
A handful of embarrassed actors tried to make the best of some sad-looking props and a bouncy castle.
The promised chocolate fountains and “chocolatey delights” were conspicuously absent.
Children were instead offered a half-cup of lemonade and a couple of jelly beans.
The disaster went viral around the world leading to a Willy Wonka Experience LA and a stage musical at the Edinburgh fringe, both of which were unconnected to the original but had been inspired by the story of the event gone wrong.
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